Community News

The Festival d’Opéra de Québec (FOQ) teamed up again this year with Jeunesses Musicales Canada to present Jacques Offenbach’s comic operetta La Belle Hélène at the Théâtre La Bordée. French and English surtitles helped the audience keep track of the complicated plot.

Almost every day (weather permitting) during the Festival d’Opéra de Québec (FOQ), a quartet of singers and a pianist have been driving around Quebec City giving free 30-40 minute performances to appreciative audiences.

Guitarist David Jacques was the solo performer at Chalmers-Wesley United Church on July 25 as part of the Musical Wednesdays concert series. He brought two unique baroque guitars with him, one of which was made in France in 1665 by the famous Voboam family of luthiers.

The annual Independence Day reception hosted by the United States Consul General in Quebec City was almost two weeks late this year. It’s not unusual for the consulate to host the July 4 event on another date, but this year the diplomatic mission had a solid excuse.

The summit meeting between U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin in Helsinki on July 16 generated a tremendous amount of turmoil and anger towards the president of the United States.

Some 150,000 construction workers downed tools last week and dispersed to various destinations, the beaches of Maine being a popular choice. It’s a phenomenon unique to Quebec since 1970, this two-week statutory construction holiday. Another phenomenon, or perhaps simply stark reality, is that very few of the holidaying construction workers enjoying a much-deserved break will be women.

This street in Beauport is named in honour of John James Audubon, an American ornithologist, naturalist and painter. He was noted for his extensive studies documenting all types of American birds and for his detailed illustrations that depicted the birds in their natural habitats. He was born in 1785 in Haiti to French parents and died Jan. 27, 1851 in New York.

There’s something enchanting about sitting in the Morrin Centre library sipping tea, watching warm summer light stream through the windows, surrounded by books and steeped in history. This is Tea Time, and the Morrin Centre pulls out all the stops to make it an enjoyable party.

A group of residents attended a lovely summer concert in the Kildare Lounge of Saint Brigid’s Home on July 19. This was the third year that talented young oboist Emma Ahern has performed at the home; this time she was accompanied by pianist Kasia Borkowska.

This summer’s record-breaking temperatures are breaking attendance records at Quebec City’s only beach on the St. Lawrence River, at la Baie de Beauport. The beach area has been open as a popular picnic and waterside playground since 2008, but swimming has only been allowed since 2016.

The name Rue de l’Aviation was granted to the Ville de Québec by the federal government in 1951 as a reminder of the major role played by the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) during the Second World War. Forty-eight squadrons (bombers, fighters and transport or reconnaissance planes) participated in all European Allied operations.

A giant bee seems to have landed among the dahlias at the Kingsey Falls botanical garden in Parc Marie-Victorin, where gardeners have created several amazing giant 3D mosaicultures. A trip through the Eastern Townships reveals many such surprising and little-known parks.

Last week’s NATO meeting in Brussels gave U.S. President Donald Trump yet another chance to upend the natural order of things and reaffirm his position that the United States of America will no longer tolerate “unfair deals.”

The Morrin Centre has decided to jazz things up for its fourth annual Arts Alive! Québec festival. From Aug. 3 to 4, Quebec City’s English-language cultural hub will host a series of jazz concerts and musical workshops.